There are some 60 people that the Parliament of Religions has invited to be part of the Interreligious Encounter (40+ plus speakers plus people accompanying them). This is a truly "global" group, coming from all over the world, and from an extraordinary span of religious traditions. It includes Christian leaders, a woman who works with Muslim Sufi networks, several Jain representatives, Sikhs, from the UK and California, filmmakers, Baha'is, and a few who resist simple categories (myself among them - I introduced myself as coming from a tradition of Episcopal Christianity with faith in the development of human potential). Perhaps most striking, visually, to an observer is the group of Buddhists, as Dharma Master Hsin Tao Shih from Taiwan (creator of the remarkable museum of World Religions there) came with 11 nuns, all in identical grey robes, their heads shaved, and with the same backpacks. The indigenous group includes a Hopi from Arizona, several Yorubas from Nigeria, and a representative of Paganism, who traces his roots to the Celtic world.
This is the group who are the speakers at the Interreligious Encounter. And the question buzzing among this group since we arrived has been: who is the audience? Constant back to back sessions are scheduled over three full days, four a day, 12 at a time, with instructions to speak for 70 minutes in a presentation, 17 minutes each for panels. Who is going to listen? It has become increasingly clear that this is a Mexico centered event, focused on this dynamic city, with a fairly limited number of people from overseas.
The answer came Saturday morning, as the conference center was abuzz with people. The street word (ie not verified by authorities) was that over 8000 people had now registered. The "early bird" event was a series of 8 am faith observances; most were packed, especially the Buddhist session; people came to all sessions throughout the day, with special crowds where the topics turned on spirituality. Most listeners came from Monterrey, with a fairly high proportion of women, not notably young but also not dominated by retirees. In discussions, we (the invitees) marveled at the interest in the event, since Monterrey is not particularly interreligious, the conflicts in Iraq and elsewhere are rather far away, and religious conflict is not at the door (Monterrey's population is perhaps 90% Catholic). The answer that came back when we asked what sparked the interest was that Monterrey, Mexico's second largest city and perhaps its richest, is opening up in many ways and global issues are indeed at its door. The city prides itself as a knowledge capital. Citizens were indeed ready to come to an event that featured interfaith dialogue and a menu of grave issues of the day.
A source of considerable frustration within the speaker group is that most of the invited guests speak several times each day and thus cannot enjoy the feast of offerings in other panels. And little of it is captured in summaries or papers. So we relied on the old fashioned method, that is conversation, to garner highlights of other sessions. Overall, the picture was of quite structured events, successive speeches, with no reports of sharp exchange or discussions going out of control. The topics of conflict, terrorism, family values, and tapping spiritual resources, were of particular interest. Audience size varied widely, in short a market of sorts as the people of Monterrey voted with their feet.
I was on for two events Saturday. One was a panel on HIV/AIDS; four speakers gave four very different presentations, two focused on theology and biology, two on how HIV/AIDS affects the poorest countries and communities and especially Africa (a fellow panelist, Lally Warren, gave vivid testimony from Botswana). The other was a presentation on the Millennium Development Goals and religion (my core professional topic). At both events and one other I attended, the questions were stimulating and informed, despite some tendency for a few people to present their own perspectives at some length.
There was some buzz about the difficulties in the opening plenary session Friday evening. Apart from grumbling but sympathy about the technological difficulties that garbled speeches, the repeated mention of Hannukah (not Yom Kippur) in one of the formal welcoming speeches caused this interreligious group to cringe. So intead of trekking to the arena for a second 7 pm plenary Saturday, conversation turned out to be the order of the evening. The interreligious dialogue around tables at the hotel, though, was a feast indeed. Among topics I heard discussed were film ideas, experience with reconciliation and healing memory, religion and reproductive health, images of the United States in communities across the world, the meaning of transcendence, and repressed spirituality as an explanation for the eagerness of Monterrey citizens to attend the dialogue.
